Unravel

This weekend Farnham Maltings held their annual knitting festival 'Unravel' for everything knitted - traditional/vintage/eccentric/designer/seriously weird. The event included exhibits, a 'best in show', fashion shows, talks, workshops, sellers and sheep... Since I made Loop as one of my final year projects I thought it would be worth a visit. I couldn't get over the effort put in to this event, everywhere you looked was some random knitted item, from hanging baskets and birds in the trees outside to cakes and sandwiches in the cafe. In the new designers section I was particularly impressed by the the work of textile designer Deryn Relph who's beautiful knitted lampshades illuminated the foyer. The knitted motorbike and wedding cake were just a couple of the crazy knitted items spotted around the building. I definitely came away feeling inspired to make Loop #2...

(source: Deryn Relph, Katie Corbin)

You are Man? You are Woman?

I have been meaning to blog my appreciation for French Connection's SS11 campaign for a little while, and walking past this billboard everyday this week prompted me to do so!

I think this is a really interesting concept, based on the masculine/feminine identity. A 'Man Camp' was set up on the island of Malta and 'Woman Camp' on the island of Gozo, created to discover the identity of men and women and men in the 21st century. They were ordered to do a series of 'manly' or 'womanly' tasks such as ride a horse into the sea and wrestle a biker. The result is a series of tongue in cheek, quirky and cool images. These are a few of my favourite, I think they are really fun, even if they don't make a lot of sense!

(source: French Connection)

From Bite to Beyond

This week I left Bite CP to start a 2 week placement with Beyond Communications. The first week has gone very quickly and I have very much enjoyed it. Beyond specialise in design for retail so I have been working on some fun and feminine projects for fashion and beauty.

(image: Flickr)

Drawing fashion

Last week I had the chance to see Drawing Fashion at the London's Design Museum, showcasing the most exceptional fashion illustration from the 20th and 21st century. The drawings reflect the spirit and style of the time, through Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Pop Art and beyond. Among my favourites were the works of Mats Gustafson, Antonio Lopez (top) and Francois Berthoud. Alongside the original illustrations were copies of the magazines in which they used like the early Lepape Vogue illustrations (I wanted to take them home with me!), film clips of the artists at work and projections of the couture clothes captured in the illustrations. This is the first time this collection has been displayed and is well worth the visit. The exhibition ends 6th March.

(top: Antonio, Lingerie 1966 bottom: Georges Lepape, cover design Feb 1922)

ELLE Collections SS11

I spent most of Saturday afternoon with the latest edition of the beautifully designed ELLE Collections. The magazines' bi-annual guide to the catwalk, has a more experimental approach to mainstream publishing, resulting in some really lovely spreads. Lots of cut out images, full bleed photographs and layering of type over image. Divided into 11 chapters, each is printed onto a different stock and has its own look and feel. These are just a few of my favourite spreads... (I'm also a fan of the Prada Banana!)

"ELLE Collections is unlike any other newsstand magazine in this country. As well as being a tool for the fashion industry due to the breadth of information from the runway shows and the exclusive access to designers it also has very high production values and an extraordinary approach to design and layout. I am extremely proud of it as ELLE Collections is produced by a small team alongside production of the main issue of ELLE. It is close to all our hearts. To evolve the magazine and celebrate its 10th issue we have also produced an iPad app ‘ELLE Collection - The Preview’, our first foray into the world of editorial apps." - Lorraine Candy, Editor-in-Chief

Black Swan

I finally got to see Black Swan this weekend... and it lived up to expectations. Dark but beautiful. I had been waiting to see it for a little while and it definitely didn't disappoint! Some seriously creepy and unnerving scenes, not what you would initially expect from a film about a subject so elegant and beautiful as ballet. The genius way in which some scenes were shot, made you nervous about things so small as clipping fingernails. The costumes were stunning too, designed by Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte -lucky Miss Portman! (who by the way was absolutely perfect)

note. I will never pick my fingernails again!

(Source: Black Swan, illustrations by Rodarte)

Harper's Bazaar

Harper's Bazaar is not my usual choice of glossy, but after a quick flick through I couldn't resist it's totally beautiful editorial spreads.

I really love the expressive use of typography throughout, particularly within the title pages of a number of the features, for example 'The Firth Factor' (which reminds me I MUST watch A Single Man). I think the experimental mixture of upper and lower case with italic and roman type is very interesting, it gives the pages a real style and edge whilst maintaining a sophisticated look.

I was also drawn to the S/S Collection pages which uses the most stunning location and vibrant colours, making me hungry for some sunshine! (photography by Norbert Schoerner)

In the bottom image I have picked out some pages which demonstrate the lovely use of a graphic device, which is like a signature to the magazine. Used for framing titles, bits of information or simply as a decorative interest. It is used both in full and in part, and in blocks of colour, or multiplied over an image. An unusual shape, and really lovely touch.

(Source: Harper's Bazzar Feb 2011)